Aleksandr Leonovitch Granin
Aleksandr Leonovitch Granin (Russian: Александр Леонович Гранин) was a Soviet weapons scientist, the former director of the OKB-812 Granin Design Bureau, and the creator of the Metal Gear concept. Biography Early life and career Granin was born sometime during the mid-1890s to early 1900s. An engineering genius, Granin created the basic design for the mobile ballistic missile system SS-1C ("Scud-B") (speculated to be the mobile platform itself''Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, Konami Computer Entertainment Japan (2004). Sigint theorizes this in a radio conversation.), and made countless other contributions to the Soviet weapons program ever since the Eastern Front during World War II.Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, Konami Computer Entertainment Japan (2004). '''Granin:' Since the Great Patriotic War, I have created countless weapons in the service of our great communist society. It was thanks to me that we were able to stamp out the Nazi scum. His government recognized his patriotism, hard work, and dedication by twice awarding him with the Order of Lenin and the Stalin Medal, which he wore proudly on his suit jacket. At some point, he met American researcher Dr. Emmerich, which also had them appearing in a newspaper article. Granin later developed the concept for a bipedal walking tank that he believed would provide the "missing link" between infantry and artillery. Though his theories had support from Emmerich, they both were widely criticized by the general scientific community. Harboring an intense rivalry with fellow scientist Nikolai Sokolov, Granin allied himself with the anti-Khrushchev faction in the GRU, solely due to the Soviet Premier's support of Sokolov.Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, Konami Computer Entertainment Japan (2004). A radio conversation between Major Zero and Naked Snake, during the Virtuous Mission, explains this. In 1964, Granin's Metal Gear concept was passed over in favor of Sokolov's Shagohod as Colonel Volgin believed it to be a more worthwhile project; a decision that left Granin greatly embittered. He planned to send all of his research and blueprints to Dr. Emmerich in the United States, as he suspected that he would end up dead sooner or later, and predicted that his creation would one day be used. During this time, he also began heavily drinking to take his mind off his ideas being rejected. At some point, Granin accepted a pair of shoes as a gift from Volgin's lover Tatyana, which housed a hidden transmitter. In September 1964, Granin (in the midst of "drowning his sorrows") was confronted by Naked Snake in Graniny Gorki. After telling Snake to put down the gun as it will "spoil" his drinking, he decided to assist in the CIA agent's mission to rescue Sokolov. He wished for Sokolov to be taken back to the United States, thereby eliminating his research rival and hopefully having the Shagohod destroyed in the process. He described his Metal Gear concept to Snake, showing blueprints for the bipedal walking tank, and told of the Philosophers' Legacy, which Volgin had illegally inherited from his own father, and was using to fund the Shagohod's development. In gratitude for complimenting him on his shoes, an intoxicated Granin gave Snake a key that would provide passage to Groznyj Grad. However, Granin may have given the key to and told of the location to Snake because he was drunk.Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, Konami Computer Entertainment Japan (2004). EVA: I know. Snake, do you know where Groznyj Grad is? // Naked Snake: Granin told me that I should be able to get there from the mountains to the north through an underground tunnel. // EVA: Granin told you? // Snake: Yeah. He even gave me the key to the warehouse. // EVA: Why? // Snake: Because he was drunk, I guess. // EVA: You've got to be kidding. // Snake: Hell if I know. As Volgin suspected him of being the spy that was aiding Snake, Volgin had Granin moved to Groznyj Grad for interrogation. Feeling that Granin served no further use, Volgin had him placed inside a large metal drum, and derived great satisfaction in sadistically pounding away at it with several brutal electrically-charged punches, eventually killing the scientist before he could reveal anything. The beatings and shocks were severe enough for an ample amount of Granin's blood to leak out of the drum. Shortly afterwards, his corpse was sent flying out of the drum can by Volgin after the latter proceeded to punch the can into a stack of similar containers. After death After Granin's savage botched torture, Volgin was able to find the transmitter planted in his shoe, confirming that there was indeed a spy, that was later revealed to be EVA. This transmitter ended up destroyed via a burst of electricity from Volgin. Triple spy Ocelot stole and submitted some of Granin's Metal Gear designs to the DCI for the Philosophers' American branch to use as a possible future weapon. In 1970, Big Boss (Naked Snake) initially suspected that Prividyenie (Ghost) was Granin due to having a detailed knowledge of Metal Gear. However, he quickly ruled out that possibility after recalling that Granin had been killed by Volgin six years earlier. In 1974, Huey Emmerich used Granin's Metal Gear blueprints for the AI weapons, including Granin's copy of the Shagohod blueprints (with Granin's own disparaging commentary) for the unmanned Pupa weapon. While he never lived to see if his Metal Gear designs would come to fruition, Granin's prediction that Metal Gear would be of use in the future eventually came to pass as variations of the weapon system would be developed and used throughout the world; Metal Gear ZEKE in the 1970s, Metal Gear Sahelanthropus in the 1980s, TX-55 Metal Gear and Metal Gear D in the 1990s, and Metal Gear REX and Metal Gear RAY in the 2000s. Personality and traits Granin was a very prideful person in regards to his weapons design intellect, in particular proudly wearing the Order of Lenin and bragging about various weapons systems that he had developed, some of which were utilized during the Eastern Front. Likewise, he was also known to be intensely patriotic towards the Soviet Union, to such an extent that he absolutely refused to defect to the West even after being passed over by Volgin in favor of his rival, Sokolov. Despite his immense loyalty to the USSR, however, he was not above doing technically treacherous actions such as submitting his designs to a colleague in the West as revenge for being passed over, as well as "aiding" his rival Sokolov's defection (although the latter was purely for selfish purposes due to not wanting to contend with Sokolov as a rival). In addition, despite being a staunch Communist due to his loyalty to the Soviet Union, he has nonetheless praised the Capitalist system at least once, when wishing CIA agent Naked Snake good luck. By time he died, largely because of his being passed over, he took to heavily drinking. Notable technologies developed * SS-1C (Scud-B) missile launch system * Flying platformshttp://mgsdb.com/en/enc/429 * Metal Gear (incomplete) Behind the scenes Aleksandr Leonovitch Granin is a character who appears in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. When performing Granin's scenes, motion capture actor Takashi Kubo was told by the game staff to drink a lot of whiskey in order to make his acting drunk legitimate. However, this resulted in a fiasco, with several lines of dialogue being skipped over midway and the studio stinking of alcohol. When Snake first encounters Granin, a variation of the "Metal Gear Solid Main Theme" can be heard in the background, entitled "Old Metal Gear" on the Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater Original Soundtrack. Models of both Metal Gear REX and Metal Gear RAY can be seen on the shelf behind Granin, along with the Jehuty mech from Konami's Zone of the Enders. Granin's designs (Metal Gear REX and Metal Gear D) can also be seen by pressing the R1 button during the scene in which Granin shows them to Snake. There were also intended to be pictures displayed of failed Metal Gear bipedal experiments, but they were cut from the final version. If the player fires their weapon or makes any other loud noise outside Granin's office, he will complain that they are "ruining his drinking." Granin is also one of the only characters in the game who speaks with a Russian accent, despite the story heavily implying that the various characters during the story were actually speaking in Russian, yet slurs some of his words. This is likely because of his heavily drunk state at the point of Snake's contact with him. In Metal Gear Solid 3, Granin mentions "his friend in the United States" to Naked Snake, who was strongly suggested to be either Hal Emmerich's father or grandfather. Two photographs in Granin's office and a radio conversation between Snake and Sigint (following the former's meeting with Granin) supported this. Character biographies leaked prior to the release of Metal Gear Solid 3 stated that this man was Hal's father,http://www.tentenpro.com/muni_shinobu/mgs3/commentary3.html though the Metal Gear Solid 4 Database contradicted this by stating that it was his grandfather.Metal Gear Solid 4 Database, Kojima Productions (2008). http://natmal.net/mgsdb/?enc&id=37&p=2 This was later clarified in Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, when it was revealed that the man in question was Hal's father, Huey Emmerich. Granin's demise was later referenced in the non-canon Secret Theater film Metal Gear Raiden: Snake Eraser, in which Raiden unintentionally time travels right into the drum can that Volgin had killed Granin in. When Volgin punches the barrel into the stack of drum cans and sends Granin's body flying, Raiden is also flung out and ends up with the barrel landing on his head. Granin also appears as an officer character in the ''Ground Zeroes'' app's Mother Base Developer. He is unlocked by obtaining 15+ crow kills while connected to the app. Gallery DVjUXhDVQAAms6L.jpg Appearances *''Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater'' *''Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence'' (Secret Theater; non-canon) *''Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops'' (mentioned) *''Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker'' (mentioned) Sources *''Metal Gear Solid: Social Ops'' (trading card) Notes and references See also * Naked Snake * Nikolai Stepanovich Sokolov * Yevgeny Borisovitch Volgin * Huey Emmerich * Metal Gear (weapon) es:Aleksandr Leonovitch Granin de:Aleksandr Leonovitch Granin Granin, Aleksandr Leonovitch Granin, Aleksandr Leonovitch Granin, Aleksandr Leonovitch Granin, Aleksandr Leonovitch Category:Soviets Category:Male Category:Russians